Friday, August 31, 2012

Huge abuse from bicycle haters

Report from an Australian bicycle-rider below. Bicycle riders irritate me too at times but I don't agree with anybody obstructing them or anybody else.

The issue here however is what should be done (if anything) about abusive comments on blogs etc. I get plenty but they are like water off a duck's back to me. I see no reason why I should be bothered by what mental midgets say -- and the abusive comments I get are invariably from people who clearly don't know what they are talking about. I am rather of the view that only emptyheads resort to abuse. It's a poor substitute for rational argument.

Still, I do understand that many people are distressed by abuse. And I can see that political commentary and personal abuse are different issues. I would not be too disturbed if personal abuse were treated as a form of libel

To recap. I'd just filed last week's column on cycling. It was a nice day, and I took a ride up the bike path to Rushcutters Bay. After three major whole-path blockages I said, to truck driver No.3, "nice place to park". No abuse. No anger. Just that.

Had he said, "sorry love, won't be long", I'd have thought nothing more, dismounted, walked around. But he became immediately aggressive, insisting on his right to block the lane (but not the road) and dissing bike lane-loving lord mayor Clover Moore for being "an educated woman". As he stalked off I took a couple of pics of his unmarked truck and posted them on my blog.

I was a bit miffed, but not angry. Had no desire he be fined. (As if.)

My point was simple: why does everyone seem to think it's OK to block bikes but not cars?

Anyway, all hell broke loose. By breakfast, my humdrum little blog had 50 comments and a thousand hits. By day's end, almost 4000.

I was called a pompous prat, a rude and viscious (sic) idiot, an incredibly stupid woman, a small sad person, a pompous git, an old commie bat, an absolute wanker, a poor little suffering Doctor princess pet, a moron, an imbecile, a pestiferous little idiot, a selfish fool, an arrogant conceited woman, an old tart, an old fart, a dolt, lord of the bicycle paths, a wowser, pathetic, despicable, weak, dishonest and a complete f---wit.

I understand the truckie didn't like being outed. But it's that old privacy thing: if you wouldn't want it known, don't do it. If it was OK for him to do it, it was okay for me to say so.

Conservative filmmaker and activist James O’Keefe wasn’t in Tampa, Fla., but the show he was supposed to headline went on as planned.

O’Keefe spoke via Skype on “the role of the citizen journalist” and took audience questions at Tuesday’s luncheon sponsored by the James Madison Institute, a Florida-based nonprofit organization.

Tanja Clendinen, the institute’s communications director said O’Keefe was not granted permission by the government to travel to Tampa. "He is currently on probation from some of his Louisiana investigation activities, and his travel permission was revoked,” she said.

Via email, O’Keefe said the event was a success.

"The audience was pleased to learn that we are building an army of citizen journalists and investigators who are now in almost every state working to protect the American people from voter fraud by exposing deficiencies in the security of our electoral processes,” he wrote to POLITICO. “We talked about the series of highly successful and publicized voter integrity investigations which have helped to shape the debate surrounding this vital issue, and which have prompted responses from governors, attorneys general, and state legislatures since January of this year."

He added: “With respect to the handling by the government of the misdemeanor case against me, we discussed the fact that my videotape in Lousiana was destroyed and the circumstances surrounding that event, the fact I was cleared by the government of all felony charges, and whether it’s grossly disproportionate at best or unconstitutional at worst to restrict the travel of a journalist for three years following a class-B misdemeanor."

O’Keefe was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to the misdemeanor charge of entering federal property — the office of Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) — under false pretenses.

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Odd: Atheist to Give Opening ‘Prayer’ at Tulsa City Council Meeting‏

What a lot of wishy-washy nonsense!

On numerous occasions, atheist activists from across America have made known their disdain for prayer at government meetings. But now, at least one non-believer is prepared to join in on public invocations. This Thursday, Dan Nerren, the non-believing founder of the Humanist Association of Tulsa, will offer up an opening prayer at the Tulsa City Council Meeting.

Nerren, who became an atheist after reading a book that purportedly exposed Biblical contradictions, is a retired railroad worker and a former Christian (he was a Southern Baptist before his conversion to non-belief).

After years of atheist groups unsuccessfully petitioning to stop religious prayers at these government meetings, the city council took an intriguing step — a move to allow atheists to partake in secular invocations.

What will be his message, you ask? Rather than appealing to God for the well-being of Tulsa residents, the atheist leader will be urging council members to address “the welfare of all people” in the community “by respecting the inherent dignity and worth of each person.”

The concluding line, as presented by NewsOK.com, appears to be inspirational in nature. It reads, “We must remember that in the face of adversity, we need not look above for answers but instead recognize the proven potential within ourselves and in each other to overcome any challenges we face.”

An animal rights group in the U.K. came out with a report Monday saying gun magazines are “shooting porn” that should be banned from sale to minors.

In its report “Gunning For Children: How the gun lobby recruits young blood,“ Animal Aid says that such ”lurid, pro-violence content could have a corrosive, long-lasting effect on impressionable young minds.”

The group believes these magazines should be considered “top shelf” and banned from sale to customers younger than 18. Animal Aid says this action”could deal a serious blow to a gun lobby that is desperate to recruit youngsters to counter a declining constituency.” In England and Wales, the group notes, licenses for shotguns have been declining for the last two decades.

Tyler goes on to say youth who engage in sport hunting in urban areas are “considered dysfunctional and a social menace.”

Gun advocates are dismissive of the report and its claims. The Daily Telegraph reports Simon Clarke of the British Association of Shooting and Conservation saying the magazines only promote responsible use of the firearms and that the animal’s death is not inappropriately glorified.

David Taylor with the Countryside Alliance told the Telegraph the magazines also show how hunting is a vital part of the rural economy

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Muslim prayer good; Catholic prayer bad

A "Jummah" is a group prayer

The Democratic National Committee is raising a number of eyebrows after announcing that it will be hosting Islamic “Jumah” prayers for two hours on the Friday of its convention, soon after denying a cardinal’s request to say a prayer at the same event.

Up to 20,000 people are expected to attend the Friday prayers and Jibril Hough, a spokesman for the Bureau of Indigenous Muslim Affairs (BIMA), said the purpose of the event is to hold political parties accountable for the issues faced by Muslim-Americans.

In particular, the event will target the Patriot Act, the NYPD, the National Defense Authorization Act, and anti-Shariah sentiment.

And while Muslim-Americans undeniably face distinct challenges, those who are well-informed on the dangers of radical Islam are expressing their doubts about the event.

Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the Founder and President of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, wrote:

The leaders of this event – Jibril Hough and Imam Siraj Wahhaj [are not] moderates. They are radicals. These individuals embrace Islamist supremacy and have demonstrated support for radical ideologies.

When an imam like Siraj Wahhaj says “it his duty and our duty as Muslims to replace the US Constitution with the Quran…we need to speak up!” Dr. Jasser reiterated in response, adding that Americans “should be concerned” if this is who the DNC is “consorting with.”

Robert Spencer speculates that the Democrat National Committee is simply so “in thrall with multiculturalism” that “few, if any” are even aware of the radical connections.

“To raise any concerns about such a speaker would be ‘Islamophobic,’ violating every rule of the anti-American, anti-Western ethos that prevails among so many Democrats today,” Spencer writes.

Atheist activists are known for their angst-inspiring billboards. These messages typically take aim at religious institutions and those who subscribe to them — and they’re also generally very timely, with themes focusing upon holidays and political happenings. During an intense electoral season, for instance, American Atheists, an organization devoted to spreading secularism, is taking aim at presidential candidates’ faith.

But, in North Carolina, where the group’s billboards were strategically posted just weeks ago in an effort to coincide with the Democratic National Convention, complaints have led the organization to take the offensive messages down.

American Atheists and Adams Outdoor Advertising are reportedly removing two Charlotte billboards blasting Christianity and Mormonism following an outpouring of complaints and threats.

The Bradenton Herald report that the billboards, which targeted the faiths of President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, went up two weeks ago and were intended to be displayed for the duration of the national conventions.

So, what was it that led to such intense reaction from those who observed the billboards? Consider their contents. As previously reported, the first has the header “Christianity.“ It goes on to call God ”sadistic“ and to dub Jesus Christ a ”useless” savior. The full text reads, “Sadistic God; Useless Savior, 30,000+ Version of ‘Truth.’ Promotes Hate, Calls it ‘Love.’”

News reports about the billboards apparently led to a national outpouring of anger. Amanda Knief, managing director of American Atheists, told Fox News that “vitriol, threats and hate speech” has been waged against staffers, volunteers and against Adams Outdoor Advertising, the company that helped place the billboards.

“It was a mutual decision between us and Adams Advertising for the safety and interests of both organizations that the billboards come down,” Knief said of the decision to take the controversial billboards down.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Court Strikes Graphic Cigarette Labels

I abhor smoking but it is also clear that coerced speech is not free speech

A federal appeals court on Friday struck down requirements for large graphic warning labels on cigarette packages, saying the government didn't provide evidence that the labels would bring down smoking rates.

The U.S. Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, said federal regulators fell short of meeting constitutional requirements for justifying the labeling rules. "The First Amendment requires the government not only to state a substantial interest justifying a regulation on commercial speech, but also to show that its regulation directly advances that goal," Judge Janice Rogers Brown wrote in the majority opinion.

The Food and Drug Administration "failed to present any data—much less the substantial evidence...showing that enacting their proposed graphic warnings will accomplish the agency's stated objective of reducing smoking rates," she added.

"This is a major victory," said Floyd Abrams, an attorney at Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP who represented Lorillard Inc., LO +0.27% one of the tobacco companies involved in the case. "It's a significant First Amendment ruling."

So let’s get this straight. An annual hate-the-Jews day called Al-Quds Day, invented by the late Iranian dictator Ayatollah Khomeini, was “celebrated” at the Ontario Legislature. One protester even showed up with the flag of the terrorist group, Hezbollah — easily spotted, given that it’s a picture of a fist grasping a machine gun.

So that’s all fine — anti-Israel demonization, pro-Iran propaganda, with the flag of a banned terrorist group.

Not only is that fine by the speaker of the Ontario Legislature, but a full complement of Toronto city police were there, too. But when a pro-Israel counter-protester unfurled an Israeli flag, he was warned by police that if he didn’t move along, he’d be arrested, and charged with incitement to riot.

Did you get that? Fly the flag of a terrorist organization, get Toronto police protection. Fly the flag of the democratic state of Israel, and Toronto police tell you to pack it, or face criminal charges.

Sun News’ David Menzies called up the Ontario Human Rights Commission — the busybodies who are constantly suing people for the crime of hurting someone’s feelings. They preach non-stop against the evils of discrimination and hurt feelings, of thought crimes.

When Menzies told them the hate rally in question was a pro-Iran rally, the OHRC said they wouldn’t intervene — not their business, they said.

Monday, August 27, 2012

The furore over the Brandon Raub kidnapping doesn't seem to have slowed America's neo-Soviets down any. This time it's Christian speech that is labelled mentally ill. Is anybody safe?

Internet Podcast Host Jason Egroff recorded his first podcast on August 8th, and shortly thereafter, one of Jason’s “friends” claimed they were concerned about his religious comments on his show and called a psych ward in Scranton Pennsylvania to have him institutionalized.

On a technicality in the law which allows people to be detained by police for psychiatric evaluation, Police knocked on Mr. Egroff’s door and transported him to a local psych ward against his will although he remained cooperative throughout the interaction with Police.

Jason was held in the psychiatric ward for 20 hours and then released with orders to give up his guns and see a counselor. Jason has always maintained that his religious remarks on his Christian show were never threatening, nor did they indicate he was unstable or emotionally distraught. Jason’s story originally appeared on the Northeast Intelligent Network shortly after his apprehension.

There is an epidemic in the USA of apprehending normal, law abiding citizens for psychiatric reasons against their will, and prompted by anonymous call-ins. Essentially, any person who is either Christian or a Veteran is potentially at risk of having someone “concerned” about your mental health calling police and being sent to a psych ward.

No backdown from either side so far despite a lot of adverse publicity for the school. The student has her transcript however so is starting college regardless

A high school principal in Oklahoma refused this week to turn over a straight-A student’s diploma because she used the word “hell” in her graduation speech.

That’s got the father of 18-year-old Kaitlin Nootbaar mad as hell, insisting to local reporters with Oklahoma’s Own News On 6 that Prague High School Principal David Smith has gone too far.

Nootbaar quoted the movie “Twilight” in her graduation speech, saying, “They ask us now what we want to be, and we say who the hell knows.” For that, Smith reportedly demanded that Nootbaar write a letter apologizing for her language before he releases her diploma.

Nootbaar has refused, so the standoff continues.

“They’re denying her diploma because she used the word ‘hell’ — something that isn’t even banned by the FCC,” “The Young Turks” co-host Ana Kasparian said on Monday night’s show. “I can say it as much as I want on this national television show.”

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Another faked "hate crime"

The lesbian concerned is pictured below. Not hard to see hormones gone wrong. In my observations, lesbians and mannish women generally are often overconfident of their own abilities. The highlighted section below would seem evidence of that

A Nebraska woman who claimed she was the victim of a horrific hate crime in July and subsequently charged with making false claims to police pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge Tuesday.

Police in Lincoln, Neb., who spent weeks investigating the case, arrested Charlie Rogers Tuesday for making a false report. Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly said a judge issued the warrant for her arrest earlier Tuesday.

Rogers told police three men wearing black ski masks broke into her home during the early morning hours on July 22, bound her wrists and ankles with zip ties, beat her and carved anti-gay slurs into her arms and abdomen.

Police said they interviewed Rogers on four separate occasions. Because of inconsistencies in her various accounts of the attack and forensic DNA evidence, a warrant was issued for her arrest.

Also puzzling was that Rogers wrote on Facebook on July 18 what they believe is a motive for faking the attack, according to The Associated Press: "So maybe I am too idealistic, but I believe way deep inside me that we can make things better for everyone. I will be a catalyst. I will do what it takes. I will. Watch me."

There was no apparent struggle in the room where Rogers, a former University of Nebraska basketball star, said she was attacked on her bed, the warrant for her arrest says, which also described the bedspread as appearing “neat” and “evenly placed on the bed.”

“There was no apparent blood on the bedspread; even though Ms. Rogers reported she was rolled on to her stomach after she had been cut on her arms, abdomen, chest and front legs while being held down.”

Additionally, the FBI sent photos of the cuts on Rogers to a coroner’s physician for Lancaster County, who consulted with Dr. Michelle Elieff, a forensic pathologist. According to the warrant, Elieff said Rogers’ cuts appeared to be self-inflicted.

The State of Victoria has some very oppressive laws about speech. This is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. Crimes of actual violence sometimes earn no jail time. One hopes this verdict is overturned on appeal.

David McRory, 22, pleaded guilty in Bendigo Magistrates' Court yesterday to using a carriage service to offend and publishing objectionable material online.

The court heard McRory and a friend, Joshua Turner, 22, started a Facebook page that rated the sexual performance of women from Central Victoria.

The defence counsel said in court that McRory - the Facebook page creator - did not mean to cause long-term harm. But he was still given a four-month jail term, which the magistrate said would send a strong message to the public about what was acceptable behaviour online.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Woman told she could not hand out free bottled water in summer heat

Just the usual Leftist hate of Christians

The City of Phoenix could face a lawsuit if the city doesn’t apologize to a Valley woman for telling her she could not hand out free bottled water to people in the summer heat. Dana Crow-Smith said a City of Phoenix worker came up to her during the First Friday festival in downtown Phoenix last month and told her she was violating city code by handing out free water because she did not have a permit.

Crow-Smith and a group of others were there exercising their Christian beliefs by engaging people to talk about religion if they wanted.

The group brought several cases of bottled water to give away in the 112-degree heat, but said a Neighborhood Preservation Inspector told the group they had to stop handing out the water or would be cited.

“It was really hot and yeah we wanted to show God's love and a small act of kindness is a great way to do that without shoving it down someone's throat,” said Crow-Smith.

The Rutherford Institute , a non-profit civil liberties organization, stepped in to represent Crow-Smith and calls this is “a violation of Crow-Smith's First Amendment right to freely exercise her religion, her Fourteenth Amendment due process rights, as well as Arizona's Free Exercise of Religion Act.”

In a letter to the city , Whitehead demanded the City issue a formal, written apology to Crow-Smith, assure her no City officials will interfere in future with her distribution of water, and require City workers go through training on the proper enforcement of the City’s code. If not, a lawsuit could follow.

The Australian Leftist government seems to have sneaked through the sort of internet laws that have been rejected even in Europe. The scope of the laws is however limited so they appear not to have rung any alarm bells. That the laws can be abused, however, there can be no doubt

NEW laws will allow authorities to collect and monitor Australians' internet records, including their web-browsing history, social media activity and emails.

But the laws, which will specifically target suspected cyber criminals, do not go as far as separate proposed laws designed to retain every Australian internet user's internet history for two years in the name of national security.

Under the laws passed yesterday, Australian state and federal police will have the power to compel telcos and internet service providers to retain the internet records of people suspected of cyber-based crimes, including fraud and child pornography. Only those records made after the request will be retained, but law enforcement agencies will be prevented from seeing the information until they have secured a warrant.

It is believed that while some telcos and internet service providers keep data for up to a week, others routinely delete users' data daily, frustrating the ability of authorities to gather evidence against suspects.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The agenda appears to be to hide him from the people, and to complicate things for his lawyers and family when they want to contact him

Special Justice Walter Douglass Stokes for the General District Court for the City of Hopewell, Va., has denied an emergency motion filed by attorneys for The Rutherford Institute to stop former Marine Brandon Raub from being forcibly transferred to a psychiatric facility more than three hours away from his family, friends and legal team.

Raub, who was arrested, detained indefinitely in a psych ward and forced to undergo psychological evaluations based solely on the controversial nature of lines from song lyrics, political messages and virtual card games which he posted to his private Facebook page, is being transferred from John Randolph Psychiatric Medical Hospital in Hopewell to the Veterans Hospital in Salem, Va., on the other side of the state.

“This is not how justice in America is supposed to work—with Americans being arrested for doing nothing more than exercising their First Amendment rights, forced to undergo psychological evaluations, detained against their will and isolated from their family, friends and attorneys. This is a scary new chapter in our history,” said John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. “Brandon Raub is no different from the majority of Americans who use their private Facebook pages to post a variety of content, ranging from song lyrics and political hyperbole to trash talking their neighbors, friends and government leaders.”

In a hearing before Special Justice Walter Douglass Stokes on August 20, government officials again pointed to Raub’s Facebook posts as the sole reason for their concern and for his continued incarceration. Ignoring Raub’s explanations about the fact that the FB posts were being read out of context and his attorney’s First Amendment defense, Stokes sentenced the former Marine to up to 30 days’ further confinement in a psych ward and signed a court order for Raub’s involuntary admission to the Veterans Hospital in Salem. Rutherford Institute attorneys are in the process of filing various emergency motions and procedural appeals to challenge Raub’s detention.

Most people in the West think that the two-year jail sentence handed down in a Moscow court to the "Pussy Riot" punk band was excessive.

I personally don't think that ANY speech ANYWHERE should earn ANY jail but had I been a worshipper at the Moscow cathedral, I think I too would have seen their actions as "hooliganism" -- which is what they were jailed for.

An interesting comparision, however, is with Britain -- which DOES clearly jail people for speech. A couple of years ago, for instance Simon Sheppard got 4 years jail for holocaust denial. He was jailed simply for what he said on his website.

What Britain and Russia class as unacceptable differs but it seems to me that these days you get a worse deal in Britain than you do in Russia when it comes to disagreeing with the ruling class.

America's Leftist elite is severely inconvenienced by the 1st Amendment but, without that, I have little doubt that they would be as punitive as Britain. I think their all-out attack on Dan Cathy and Chick-fil-A shows that. They have attacked him in every way they legally can. They haven't got him thrown into a mental hospital yet but give them time.

For those of you who use Facebook and are concerned about the NSA/FBI or any other government goons monitoring your messages, please be advised that it will be a long time before the NSA computers have the ability to read hand written imaging of text, decipher multiple hand writing variations and convert that image to text.

This hand written image is a great way to convey a simple message without immediately triggering detection with key words. Of course, the image can be viewed but it will not trigger an automated alert to the authorities.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Outcry after military veteran detained for anti-government Facebook posts

A former Marine involuntarily detained for psychiatric evaluation for posting strident anti-government messages on Facebook has received an outpouring of support from people who say authorities are trampling on his First Amendment rights.

Brandon J. Raub, 26, has been in custody since FBI, Secret Service agents and police in Virginia's Chesterfield County questioned him Thursday evening about what they said were ominous posts talking about a coming revolution. In one message earlier this month according to authorities, Raub wrote: "Sharpen my axe; I'm here to sever heads."

Police -- acting under a state law that allows emergency, temporary psychiatric commitments upon the recommendation of a mental health professional -- took Raub to the John Randolph Medical Center in Hopewell. He was not charged with any crime.

A Virginia-based civil liberties group, The Rutherford Institute, dispatched one of its attorneys to the hospital to represent Raub at a hearing Monday. A judge ordered Raub detained for another month, Rutherford executive director John Whitehead said.

"For government officials to not only arrest Brandon Raub for doing nothing more than exercising his First Amendment rights but to actually force him to undergo psychological evaluations and detain him against his will goes against every constitutional principle this country was founded upon," Whitehead said.

In Australia, some same-sex marriage activists made loud calls in June for a boycott of coffee chain Gloria Jeans following news that the company gave $30,000 to the Australian Christian Lobby.

NSW Council of Churches President, the Revd Dr Ross Clifford, said it was regrettable that globally some public officials and others felt obliged to take extreme measures to support same-sex marriage and stifle public debate.

“We support freedom of speech. We want a reasoned, civil debate about marriage without the threat of punitive action by those who happen to disagree with us,” Dr Clifford said.

“We sense the need to warn churches and businesses led by Christians of the likely intensification of opposition to Christian values as same-sex marriage activists see their public support slipping away.”

“Extreme statements and actions by advocates of same-sex marriage, along with a growing awareness of the dangers of their radical social experiment, only serve to weaken their case and turn public opinion against them.”

“Australian church leaders have been unjustly accused of homophobia, bigotry. Virtually every week the ABC program QandA features one or more questions on gay marriage, even when the theme has nothing to do with marriage, as we saw last Monday when the program focused on sport and the Olympics,” Dr Clifford said.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Leftist hate group stirs up rage

The SPLC hates all conservatives

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) of Montgomery, Alabama was first established decades ago to combat the Ku Klux Klan and racism in general through its work in helping impoverished blacks fight discrimination. In recent years, however, SPLC has exhibited a tendency to label anyone or any group that disagrees with them as "racist" or a "hate group," says a Cornell Law School professor.

William A. Jacobson, an associate clinical professor at Cornell Law School, stated Wednesday in a piece written for Legal Insurrection that SPLC attempts to cut off debate and quell the free expression of ideas by labeling its political opponents as "hate groups."

And it so happens that conservatives and conservative organizations are the ones SPLC targets on a regular basis.

For example, the Family Research Council has been at the forefront of the news this week due to a shooting that occurred at its headquarters in Washington. The alleged shooter stated that the reason he opened fire is that he hates the political views of the Council.

SPLC had added the Family Research Council to its "hate watch" list of what it claims are known "hate groups." The reason? The Council supports the traditional understanding of the term "marriage."

School district dismisses atheist group's threat to sue over 'God' songs

A national atheist group is demanding that a New York public school district remove songs from the curriculum of a music class because they feature the words "god" and "lord" in the lyrics, but the educators aren't backing down.

The Freedom from Religion Foundation has sent letters to the Shenendehowa Central Schools, in Clifton Park, N.Y., threatening legal action if the songs aren't removed from Okte Elementary School's curriculum. The possibly-religious songs include "Thank You for the World So Sweet," which says "Thank you God for everything," "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep," which says "I pray the Lord my soul to keep," "Michael Row your Boat Ashore" and "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands."

"This is not minor. It's predatory to conduct this toward a young, captive audience who would be truant if they didn't attend public school," Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom from Religion Foundation, told FoxNews.com.

The organization sent a letter to Superintendent Oliver Robinson about the songs in June on behalf of a parent who complained. While the two groups communicated over the summer break, a third letter from the FRFF staff attorney arrived on Aug. 6, which warned of legal action.

School officials are standing firm, claiming the songs the kids are being taught are simply educational:"None of the songs was taught, or used, as prayer. Thus, the case you cite dealing with school prayer is an inapposite...[the songs] were used appropriately to teach musical concepts," Kathryn McCary, the school district's attorney, said in letter mailed to the foundation.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Should Russian feminist punks have been jailed?

Even after 70 years of Communism, Russia is a very religious place, so it attracted a lot of attention when a punk band called "Pussy Riot" invaded Moscow's main cathedral, mounted one of the holiest places in it, and performed an obscene song critical of the Russian Orthodox church and of Vladimir Putin, Russia's prime minister at the time. Words of the "song" are here.

This was very disturbing to worshippers who were present and security guards promptly grabbed the band members and hustled them away.

The performers were arrested and charged with “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” and got 2 years' jail, which in Russia probably MEANS 2 years' jail.

There have been many expressions of support for the band in the Western world but much of that is probably motivated by a dislike of Mr Putin, who is undoubtedly something of a tyrant. Even more unforgiveable (to the Left) he is also a patriotic Christian who attends church regularly

What would have happened if the band had done something similar in a mosque? In Pakistan they would be dead now; In Britain they would be in prison and in the USA they would probably have been given some small penalty for "trespass" or the like.

If Muslims are entitled to respect for their holy places, it seems to me that Russian Orthodox people should have similar rights. I see the matter as not about speech but about behaviour and that is indeed how the Russian prosecutors charged them.

When people are allowed to invade mosques and put on performances offensive to the worshippers, then I will see the prison sentences in this matter as excessive.

There is a rather odd controversy recorded here where one white South-African-born cricket player referred to another white South-African-born cricket player by the Afrikaans word for "box". Australians would understand that slang and its offensiveness.

The curious thing is that both players concerned were in fact playing for England against a South African team. The abused player was in fact the England captain, who seems to have been pretty upset.

The abusive guy is most unlikely to be selected to play for England again but he is undoubtedly a bit of an egotist so he deserves that. It is principally a matter of team loyalty and team cohesion (important matters in sport) rather than speech, as far as I can see.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

An MSNBC host has apologised for describing Mitt Romney 's campaign tactics as the 'n***erisation' of Barack Obama.

Toure, a critic on The Cycle, used the term last night when accusing the Republican presidential candidate of racially-charged rhetoric against the President.

He had been discussing aggressive comments made by Mr Romney against Mr Obama during a campaign speech in Ohio on Tuesday, in which the Republican said the President should take his 'politics of division and anger back to Chicago'. The former Massachusetts governor also said the President was 'angry and desperate'.

Romney himself was responding to Vice President Joe Biden's race blunder when he told an audience of black students that the Republican party would 'put y'all back in chains'.

The MSNBC host claimed Romney was engaging in 'racial coding' by portraying Obama as an angry black man.

He said on the show: 'You notice he says 'anger' twice. He's really trying to use racial coding and access some really deep stereotypes about the angry black man.

'This is part of the playbook against Obama. The otherization, he's not like us. I know it's a heavy thing to say. I don't say it lightly. But this is ni--erization. You are not one of us, and that you are like the scary black man who we've been trained to fear.'

Saying Israel is an apartheid state is fine but calling jihad uncivilized is "hate"

"In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel. Defeat Jihad," reads a controversial ad displayed in San Francisco's Municipal Railway buses. And as of now, despite the outcry, it's not coming down.

"Muni officials spoke on Wednesday, addressing the ads purchased by the American Freedom Defense Initiative [which, of course, has been labelled a "hate group"] that contains a message that has been called `anti-Islam' by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)," CBS San Francisco reports.

President of the Transportation Board Tom Nolan, who believes the ads are "offensive," says removing them gives way to other problems.

"What could happen here if we take them all down [is] we could be taken to court and [there] would be a big cost associated with that and we could be forced - I guess like New York, to put them back up anyway," Nolan told CBS San Francisco.

As a compromise, Muni has agreed to give a portion of the revenues generated by the ads to the Human Rights Commission.

"The $3,400 in donated ad revenue will be used for an educational campaign. Muni will go one step further by placing their own signage next to the message saying, `Muni doesn't support this message,'" the CBS report adds

Friday, August 17, 2012

Canadians have had it drilled into their heads for decades that they are the most tolerant people on the planet and that multiculturalism is the holy grail of a tolerant society.

Small wonder, then, that so many claim to be shocked and appalled at Parti Québécois Leader Pauline Marois’s plan for a Charter for Secularism that would, among other matters, ban public sector employees from wearing “conspicuous religious signs.” The charter would be among her party’s first acts if it wins power in Quebec’s Sept. 4 election.

Is Marois being intolerant? She claims not: “We don’t have to apologize for who we are,” she said. “We are one of the most tolerant and open people on this planet, but we want our values, such as equality between the sexes, respected by everyone.”

Maybe so, but if Marois has anything to apologize for it is her intellectual cowardice (never mind the incoherence). She didn’t specify what “signs” she had in mind, but, as various observers have noted, the party has in the past expressed an aversion to the Muslim head scarf, or hijab, and the full-body chador, the Sikh ceremonial dagger, or kirpan, and the Jewish skullcap, or yarmulke. (The Christian crucifix is apparently acceptable if worn discreetly.)

Unfortunately, Marois lacks the courage of her convictions. Like many Canadians — and Quebecers — she’s imbued with the ethos of tolerance even if she doesn’t understand the concept.

As President Obama’s approval ratings sink, liberals—who claim to be for tolerance—have been ratcheting up their intolerance.

Almost daily, we hear a liberal politician or celebrity claiming that those who oppose Obama are racists and accusing Republicans of wanting to return to the days of Jim Crow laws that required separate facilities for blacks and whites.

Last month, Politico reporter Joe Williams said on MSNBC that Mitt Romney is “very, very comfortable” around “white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company.” He also tweeted a nasty remark with a sexual innuendo about Ann Romney.

Williams has said the Tea Party movement uses “racially tinged imagery and racially tinged sort of statements to get their point across.” He has said that opposition to Obama is a backlash against an African-American president, comparing that with support for the Ku Klux Klan.

Williams, who is black, not only covered the White House for Politico but previously was the Boston Globe’s deputy Washington bureau chief. After the remark about Romney, Politico suspended Williams, and he has left his job there, claiming he had been the target of right-wing bullying.

Not to be outdone, Salon editor-at-large Joan Walsh agreed with Williams. "It’s almost certainly a fact that Mitt Romney is more comfortable around white people,” she wrote on Salon.com.

“It’s just so inaccurate, and it’s just so amazing that people who don’t know us can sort of put these labels on us,” Ann Romney tells me. “I think some of our black friends would be a little amused by it.”

From Justice Clarence Thomas to Juan Williams and Bill Cosby, blacks who express conservative views are referred to by supposedly tolerant black Democrats as Uncle Toms and sellouts.

When GoProud, a gay conservative group, endorsed Romney for president, the supposedly tolerant Joy Behar said on Al Gore’s Current TV, “Could it be that the GoProud guys are just attracted to Mitt Romney's sons?”

Supposedly tolerant Obama supporter Bill Maher has compared Wisconsin’s Republican Governor Scott Walker to the mentally handicapped banjo player in the film “Deliverance.”

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Saudi writer wants to ban hate speech against Shi-ites

Muslims accuse us of "Islamophobia" if we make any criticism of them but what they say of one-another is much worse. And they actually translate it into action on a large scale. The conflict in Syria, for instance, is basically the majority Sunnis against the Shia-supported Assad government. Muslim on Muslim violence is huge -- and has been for centuries. The guy below is the odd man out -- as he himself says. He has obviously been influenced by Western ideas

“Finally, I returned to Jeddah, where all my friends belong to the Sunni sect. But, alas, the discussion was focused on the same issues. I tried explaining that most ideas about the Shia were myths and propaganda by their haters. ‘You need to read their literature and talk to them, before making such damning judgement,’ I would say. Few listened. Fewer agreed. I felt like it had been ages since I had left home — not just 16 months!”

Before the Arab Summit in Baghdad last March, I published a call to Arab leaders asking them to issue a law that criminalizes hate speech. The world, after losing over 50 million of its inhabitants during World War II, decided to ban and punish hate merchants. Democratic Europe and the US, proud as they are of free speech laws, would not tolerate inciting people against each other on the bases of color, faith, sex orientation or ethnicity. Shariah laws prohibit such incitements on principle. So we are more obliged to make it crystal clear to those dividers and hate speakers that “fetnah” — inciting Muslims to hate each others — is now against the law.

Today, it is not only an ideological debate on satellite TVs, and in sectarian magazines, religious schools and mosques. The issues have filled people with so much anger, distrust and aversion that marriages are broken, family members are estranged from each other, neighbors are fighting among themselves, and whole tribes, villages and towns, which were peaceful and coherent, are now divided along religious lines. Voluntarily or forcefully, districts are being cleansed from followers of opposite faiths.

There is no doubt that many female competitors do look unfeminine but you are not supposed to say so, apparently

A Turkish newspaper columnist has been heavily criticised after writing an article which said the Olympic Games is destroying the female figure.

The piece - called Womanhood is dying at the Olympics' - was written by Yuksel Aytug and was published in the daily newspaper Sabah and on the paper's website.

However, it soon spread around the world by saying the Games was distorting women's bodies and that extra points should be given to female athletes based on how feminine they looked.

According to Hurriyet Daily News, he said: 'Broad-shouldered, flat-chested women with small hips; [they are] totally indistinguishable from men. 'Their breasts – the symbol of womanhood, motherhood – flattened into stubs as they were seen as mere hindrances to speed.

He added that the appearance of many female Olympians was 'pathetic'.

Following the publication of the article, Mr Aytug was strongly criticised by people on Twitter and his own female colleagues.

Team GB's Zoe Smith, 18, faced abuse about her appearance before the Games began. She was the subject of vile internet abuse after appearing on a documentary earlier this year, with anonymous Twitter trolls telling her she looks like a 'lesbian' and a 'bloke'.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

After his outspoken defence of Biblical morality, Dan Cathy of Chick-fil-A is now routinely accused by the Left of hate speech

“I have been to this point unwilling to sign on to same-sex marriage primarily because of my understandings of the traditional definitions of marriage.”

If you dislike that comment, you will hate this one:

“I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian ... it is also a sacred union. God’s in the mix.”

Such divisive, bigoted words surely were spat like venom by Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy, right?

Wrong. President Barack Obama uttered the first statement on Oct. 27, 2010. Candidate Obama made the second remark to Pastor Rick Warren on Aug. 17, 2008.

The Chick-fil-A flap illustrates how thoroughly unhinged the American left has become and exposes the totalitarian temptation that stirs just beneath the thin skins of too many Democrats.

As a gay-marriage supporter, I differ with Cathy. However, his views are neither extreme nor medieval. Indeed, on May 8, they mirrored Obama’s definition of marriage. That was the day before Obama parroted Vice President Joe Biden and endorsed gay marriage. Obama instantly “evolved” and told ABC News on May 9: “...same-sex couples should be able to get married.”

While Cathy is being excoriated as a homophobic Neanderthal, just four months ago, Obama’s position on gay marriage was equally prehistoric.

Despite Dan Cathy and Obama saying essentially the same thing, there was never the slightest squeak about Obama uttering hate speech. Leftists have no shame. They haven't even got the first precondition of morality: consistency. They are psychopathic and, as such, deserve no respect.

Does anybody really think that a charge of engaging in "hate speech" is going to be leveled at a guy like poet, playwright, essayist and activist Amiri Baraka?

When Condoleezza Rice was secretary of state, Baraka wrote a poem calling her a "skeeza," slang for a woman with morals so low that she makes prostitutes look downright saintly.

A few years later, when Michael Steele was chairman of the Republican National Committee, Baraka referred to him as a "real public coon."

And let's not forget New York City Councilman Charles Barron's unforgettable declaration right here in Washington, D.C., some 12 years ago: "Sometimes I'd like to slap a white person for my mental health."

What do we call pronouncements like the ones made by Baraka and Barron? "I love you very much speech"?

No, they sound like hate speech, and you can bet America's "Ban Hate Speech" bunch is comfortable with each and every one of them.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Hate speech against Jews permissible

Extreme hate speech against Jews and Israel from Muslims on University of California campuses is common. Jews have submitted that such speech be banned as hate speech. The President of the UC system, himself a Jew has very politely declined to do that.

The letter below from FIRE refers:

Dear President Yudof:

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE; thefire.org) writes today to express our shock and dismay at the recommendation of members of your Advisory Council on Campus Climate, Culture and Inclusion that the University of California System enact unconstitutional "hate speech" policies. As the leader of a public university system legally and morally bound by the First Amendment, you must reject this misguided and illiberal recommendation. FIRE urges you to do so promptly and unequivocally.

On July 9, the fact-finding team of the Advisory Council released its "University of California Jewish Student Campus Climate Fact-Finding Team Report & Recommendations" ("the Report"). Authored by Council members Richard Barton, National Education Chair of the Anti-Defamation League and partner at Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves and Savitch LLP, and Alice Huffman, President of the California State Conference of the NAACP, the Report aims to "identify steps needed to make campuses more inclusive and welcoming for Jewish students as well as all community members." In pursuit of this laudable goal, the Report errs dramatically in recommending that the UC System deliberately violate the First Amendment.

Specifically, the Report advises:

"UC should adopt a hate speech-free campus policy.

While many campuses have adopted hate-free campaigns or issued commitments affirming the free and open exchange of ideas while maintaining a civil and supportive community, UC does not have a hate-free policy that allows the campus to prevent well-known bigoted and hate organizations from speaking on campus (aside for [sic] time, place, and manner provisions), such as the KKK. UC should push its current harassment and nondiscrimination provisions further, clearly define hate speech in its guidelines, and seek opportunities to prohibit hate speech on campus. The President should request that General Counsel examine opportunities to develop policies that give campus administrators authority to prohibit such activities on campus. The Team recognizes that changes to UC hate speech policies may result in legal challenge, but offer that UC accept the challenge. [Emphasis added]."

This recommendation demonstrates an inexcusable contempt for the First Amendment and the essentiality of freedom of expression at our nation's public colleges and universities.

The article below refers to "boat people" -- mainly Afghans and Pakistanis who fly from Pakistan to Indonesia aboard commercial airliners and then undertake a rather risky trip to Australia aboard Indonesian fishing boats. They are clearly not refugees but rather illegal immigrants. The Australiian government, however, refers to them as "asylum seekers" -- but they are basically frauds relying on a Leftist government's sympathy for lawbreakers.

THE Jewish community should not be misled by compassion from the Holocaust into supporting Muslim boat people, the owner of The Australian Jewish News has argued in an article condemned by some as hate speech.

In the latest edition, under the headline "Curb the compassion", Robert Magid said Jews tended to want to appear more compassionate than others because of their history of suffering oppression and persecution, but "the Jews who fled the Holocaust fled certain death. I doubt there is a single boat person in that situation."

Mr Magid said "unscrupulous" illegal immigrants pushed genuine asylum seekers down the queue and that immigration in other countries had led to ghettos and calls for Islamic law. He suggested that hiding among Muslim boat people who had destroyed their documents would be an ideal way for al-Qaeda to smuggle a terrorist network into Australia.

The backlash came quickly. An open letter on Facebook by the Australian Jewish Democratic Society had attracted nearly 400 signatures last night, while liberal and conservative religious leaders united against Mr Magid.

Monday, August 13, 2012

FREEDOM of speech on Facebook is at the heart of an appeals court case in Virginia involving an elected sheriff who fired staff members who "liked" his rival on the social networking site.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) this week associated itself with the case in Newport News city, contending that the "like" button on Facebook is a form of free speech protected by the First Amendment of the Constitution.

A US District Court judge ruled earlier this year that liking someone on Facebook was "insufficient speech to merit constitutional protection," and that Sheriff BJ Hampton was thus not breaking the law when he fired six staffers in his office who had "liked" his opponent in a 2009 election.

Hampton went on to win the election, but the six staff members he had dismissed - ostensibly for "unsatisfactory work" - proceeded to challenge his decision in court on free speech grounds.

Couldn’t get “cyber-security” law passed, so Obama may just do whatever he wants anyway

Will his next executive order be to suspend the Federal elections? America is on dangerous grounds here with a President who has no regard to the separation of powers set out in the Constitution. This is a clear attempt to control the internet

"The White House is exploring whether to issue an executive order to protect the nation's critical computer infrastructure following Congress'[s] failure to act earlier this month, White House homeland security adviser John Brennan said Wednesday. ...

Brennan's comments, and similar suggestions earlier this month by White House press secretary Jay Carney, follow an August 2 procedural vote in the Senate that all but doomed a cyber security bill endorsed by President Obama as well as current and former national security officials from both Republican and Democratic administrations."

Sunday, August 12, 2012

The Emma West referred to below ranted about immigrants while on public transport

The Libertarian Alliance welcomes the acquittal of Simon Walsh on the charge of possessing “extreme pornography.” It sees the acquittal as a victory for freedom of expression.

Simon Walsh, a barrister and former adviser to the Mayor of London, was charged with possessing images of acts between consenting adults. The law used was section 63 of the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008, which outlaws pornography depicting acts which would cause “serious harm to the anus, breast or genitals”. On Thursday the 9th August 2012, the jury acquitted him on all counts

Speaking today, Dr Sean Gabb, Director of the Libertarian Alliance, made these points:

1. There should be no law against the creation and publishing of any image depicting acts between consenting adults. Doubtless, the more extreme the act, the more investigation there should be regarding the reality of consent. In this case, however, it was reasonably plain that the parties had consented and were enjoying themselves.

2. There should be no law against the mere possession of any image. Possession of images should be used as evidence of involvement in illegal acts. But laws against possession in itself are a licence for the police to fabricate evidence.

3. The acquittal of Mr Walsh should be seen as a victory for free expression and a vindication of our ancient system of trial by jury. However, the main target of censorship by the British State is no longer sexual expression but dissidence against political correctness. The Libertarian Alliance notes that Emma West, a white working class Londoner arrested in 2011 and charged with “hate crimes,” has still not been brought to trial. There have been repeated and ill-explained delays, and there is reason to believe that the authorities are hoping to wear her down by delay into pleading guilty. They are frightened that, as with Mr Walsh, their oppressive laws against freedom of expression will not bear scrutiny by a jury of twelve ordinary people.

Controversial DJ Kyle Sandilands did not offend "generally accepted standards of decency" when he ridiculed a disabled child on his radio show, the communications watchdog says.

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has also cleared 2Day FM of breaching its licence conditions after Sandilands described a Pakistani baby born with extra limbs as a "spider baby".

ACMA has been investigating whether the broadcaster's on-air comments in April contravened the Commercial Radio Code of Practice, which prohibits the incitement of severe ridicule of people because of their disability.

On Friday, it ruled that "while the broadcast conveyed severe ridicule and was grossly insensitive, it was not likely to incite severe ridicule of the child among listeners".

ACMA also ruled that the broadcast did not offend generally accepted standards of decency. "Although the comments were in poor taste and offensive to some, they were not, in the sense contemplated by the code, lewd, coarse or indecent."

Friday, August 10, 2012

The death of ethnic humor

After Muslims "energetically" protested cartoons about themselves, the attack on humor seems to have gained a new lease on life. As the episode below illustrates, any jokes at the expense of a minority come under huge attack and are rapidly censored.

The story below concerns jokes about Australian Aborigines, a group of people virtually unknown outside Australia. Ethnic jokes of course center on characteristics widely ascribed to the group concerned so non-Australians would simply be puzzled by most of the jokes.

Nonetheless there was a worldwide pile-on to the jokes concerned by the Left-dominated media, resulting in the jokes being taken down by Facebook, their host.

To assist informed debate, I think I need to give examples of what was censored. Via a Google image search, I have recovered some of the cartoons but putting them up would be futile as any image host would undoubtedly take them down again. So what I will do is reproduce just some of the texts without the accompanying illustrations.

Back in my day meth was a drink

Methylated spirits is ethyl alcohol with a small amount of poisonous methyl alcohol added, akin to rubbing alcohol in the USA. It is used for cleaning etc. but Aborigines have been known to drink it for a cheap high.

Petrol is gasoline. Petrol-sniffing is a pervasive form of substance abuse among young Aborigines

"Sense of ownership is so white". Complains when white folk take his land

Both those things have been said by Aboriginal activists as convenience suits

"Been here 40 thousand years. Invented a stick"

Aborigines were still very primitive when white men arrived.

Oh! You're Aboriginal. Please tell me more about how I'm a white c*nt"

Words put into the mouth of a white comedian. Aborigines are in general exceptionally polite but such utterances can be heard from Aboriginal activists, who in general have only a small amount of Aboriginal ancestry

As almost any evening of viewing TV advertisements will show you, it is perfectly permissible to mock white men as stupid, clumsy etc. so why not mock other groups in similar ways? Why the double standard? Answer: There is no standard. The Leftist aim is to tear everyone down a similar low level and anything goes in pursuit of that. And the media are solidly onboard with that discriminatory aim.

The page, which has over 4000 Likes, shows pictures of Aboriginal people with supposedly "funny" captions that reference petrol and begging.

In spite of reports pouring in from angry users, though, Facebook's response was to do just enough to show that it doesn't actually care.

After 5pm GMT +10, Facebook started emailing reporters with the following message:

Thanks for your recent report of a potential violation on Facebook. After reviewing your report, we were not able to confirm that the specific page you reported violates Facebook's Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

However, the Facebook Community Standards document clearly states:

Facebook does not permit hate speech. While we encourage you to challenge ideas, institutions, events and practices, it is a serious violation to attack a person based on their race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability or medical condition.

At approximately 9.30pm GMT +10, Facebook removed any posts linking to the page, and the page itself disappeared — only to reappear around two hours later, with its name changed to "[Controversial Humor] Aboriginal Memes". [And that is down now too]

The core of the joke is the very low educational level of Aborigines and there has been any amount of media reports about that. Many Aborigines are functionally illiterate. But we are not allowed to allude to that, apparently.

The "stolen generation" is a myth created by Leftists, using the fact that abused children taken by social workers from Aboriginal homes were sometimes relocated to white homes

A Caboolture cafe is at the centre of a brewing storm after numerous people branded a sign outside the Queensland shop as racist.

Caboolture man Ranald Link said he was disgusted when he saw it at Tarmac Takeaways, in Aerodrome Rd, on Friday and further angered when staff refused to remove it. Mr Link, an Aboriginal man whose grandmother and great grandmother were members of the stolen generations, said the message was disrespectful of the pain they experienced at being taken from their families.

Mr Link said the sign also stereotyped Aboriginal people as thieves. "We don't go around saying every white person is a thief... so why should they stereotype us?"

The shop's owner, who wanted to be known only as Janelle, said the "joke" was something her daughter had seen on Facebook and was not something she had made up to cause offence.

Janelle said she had been putting jokes about various groups, such as blondes and New Zealanders, outside her shop for 10 years and this was the first time someone had complained. "I'm not actually having a go at them," she said.

Janelle said she would be more careful in future. "I'll definitely not put anything like that out again. I'll keep it pretty bland," she said.

Thursday, August 09, 2012

COMPLAINTS about the use of the terms "wanker", "cock" and "knob" in a road safety campaign have been rejected by the South Australian Government.

Road Safety Minister Jennifer Rankine has told independent MP Bob Such that the results of the campaign "vastly outweigh it being labelled as irresponsible".

Dr Such wrote to Ms Rankine in June on behalf of constituents who had complained to him about the road safety messages on the highway leading to SA from Victoria.

"Three signs in particular were considered to be offensive and degrading to our state - namely those which used pictures to suggest that driver should drive carefully and not be a wanker, a cock or a knob," Dr Such said. "In particular, the travellers felt the signs were an irresponsible and unfortunate introduction to visitors to SA."

In a letter to Dr Such, Ms Rankine said the campaign had been developed by the Motor Accident Commission specifically for country drivers. She said the campaign had been extensively researched.

It remains to be seen what SCOTUS will make of it -- if it ever gets that far again. Is speech that no-one can hear really "Free"? I can't see it

Congress took action where the Supreme Court didn’t to curb Westbooro Baptist Church’s followers from protesting the funerals of fallen troops and veterans.

President Obama signed into law Monday the Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act that includes language aimed at protecting service members funerals. The church based in Kansas is best known for staging protests at service members funerals to protest the service of homosexuals in the military.

In 2011, the Supreme Court ruled the First Amendment protected Westboro’s right to protest the funerals. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion that “as a nation we have chosen … to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”

Sen. Olympia Snow, R-Maine, introduced legislation three months following the Court’s ruling that gives the government the right to further protect the funerals. The act argues that ensuring fallen troops have respectful burials is important to maintaining a strong military and protecting national security.

The new law extends bans on picketing funeral services of troops and veterans from 150 feet to 300 feet, and prohibits protests from being conducted up to two hours before and after a funeral. Previously the ban was for an hour before and after.

Violations are punishable by a fine and up to a year in jail.

“The graves of our veterans are hallowed ground, and obviously we all defend our Constitution and the First Amendment and free speech,” Obama said at the White House ceremony Monday. “But we also believe that when men and women die in the service of their country and are laid to rest, it should be done with the utmost honor and respect.”

Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Hatred of the American flag at a mall in Oregon

No reason given -- but publicity has subsequently forced a complete backdown

A fight over the American flag is brewing at the Clackamas Town Center. The manager of the children's train at the mall says he's being forced to remove flags that he uses to decorate the train ride. Why? The mall told him the flags are against policy.

Thomas Phelps said he was floored when he got a letter from mall management telling him that the flags he put on the train a few weeks ago were "unapproved visuals." That reference didn't sit too well with Phelps, who also happens to be a military veteran.

Phelps said he would understand if it was causing a problem but he said nobody has complained - not once.

A fired Oregon school bus driver suing to get his job back after being dismissed for flying a Confederate flag from his personal vehicle should have his case heard in court, a federal magistrate said Thursday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark D. Clarke ruled against a motion to dismiss the First Amendment case and said the suit should go to trial, according to court records filed in U.S. District Court in Medford.

School bus company First Student Inc. and Jackson County School District 4 had argued the case should be dismissed because driver Ken Webber flew the flag as an expression of what he called his "redneck lifestyle," not protected political speech.

Clarke wrote there is enough evidence to allow a jury to find that Webber flew the flag to express his feelings for history and heritage, which other courts have included in freedom of speech protections guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution.

The magistrate's recommendation goes to a judge for final action. No trial date has been set.

Webber's attorney Thomas Boardman called it "a thrilling victory for the First Amendment."

Webber, the married father of four, was fired in March 2011, after repeatedly refusing to remove a 3-foot by 5-foot Confederate flag emblazoned with the word "redneck" from the CB antenna on his pickup truck. The flag was a gift from his father.

School Superintendent Ben Bergreen had seen the flag on Webber's truck parked at the bus yard, which is on property owned by the school district, and told the bus company he wanted it removed because it violated the district's anti-harassment policy. After being suspended twice, Webber continued to refuse to remove the flag or park his truck off school property and was fired.

Clarke wrote that there are several disputed questions of fact that should be answered by a jury, not a judge. Among them is whether the flag amounted to protected speech.

Clarke noted that other courts have found the First Amendment protects the flying of the Confederate flag as a symbol of state's rights, white supremacy, history and heritage.

Tuesday, August 07, 2012

'Naughty and nice: Australian newspaper sparks potential diplomatic storm by rebranding the Koreas

It's "racist" to disapprove of Communism?? Whether in the North or the South, Koreans are all the same race. It is just their governmental systems that differ. Racism has become a meaningless slur that Leftists just trot out in a sort of kneejerk reaction to anything they dislike

An Australian newspaper has sparked a potential diplomatic storm by rebranding North and South Korea 'Naughty' and 'Nice'.

The Brisbane Metro sneaked the joke into their coverage of the Olympics, where it featured on a medal table, charting the progress of nations competing at London 2012.

The 'rebranding' has attracted a wave of interest and is trending on Twitter, where some users have accused the newspaper of 'racism'.

Many readers considered the joke harmless fun, including Craig Le Grice, who tweeted: 'This is hilarious, if slightly political.'

While other Twitter users down under were upset about the xenophobic undertones. Leighb83 wrote: 'Yeah calling N & S Korea, Naughty Korea and Nice Korea is fine. As long as its fine for them to refer to us as the Dumb, Drunk, Racists.'

The United States will oppose a bid to revise a global treaty to bring the internet under UN control or to impose new taxes on web traffic, the head of a US delegation says.

The US will submit its formal proposal on Friday for the December conference held by the International Telecommunications Union, a UN agency which set global telecom rules, said Terry Kramer on Wednesday in the US, the special envoy named for the talks.

Kramer reiterated Washington's position opposing proposals by Russia, China and others to expand the authority of the ITU to regulate the internet.

"The internet has grown precisely because it has not been micro-managed or owned by any government or multinational organisation," Kramer told a forum sponsored by the Information Technology Industry Council.

"There is no internet central office. Its openness and decentralisation are its strengths."

US officials, lawmakers and technology leaders have expressed concern that the December conference to be held in Dubai could seek changes threatening the openness of the internet and its so-called "multi-stakeholder" model.

Some in the US say the effort could give governments greater authority to filter or censor information.

A cybersecurity bill sought by President Barack Obama as critical to American national defence was blocked Thursday in the Senate, drawing an angry response from the White House.

The legislation failed to advance amid opposition from an unusual coalition of civil libertarians who feared it could allow too much government snooping, and conservatives who said it would create a new bureaucracy.

The bill needed 60 votes in the 100-member Senate to advance under rules in the chamber, but got only 52. The failure came despite pleas from Obama and top US defence officials.

Matt Kibbe of the conservative group FreedomWorks said the bill was "deeply flawed and would stifle innovation on the internet."

He said that by allowing the Department of Homeland Security to define what amounted to critical infrastructure it would "create a completely open-ended regulatory apparatus for Internet security."

A campaign launched by civil liberties groups argued that the bill "would let companies like Facebook and Google monitor our online communications and then pass that data to the government without a warrant."

Sunday, August 05, 2012

Neo-Nazism compatible with Olympic ideal?

Once you subtract the racism from Nazism, the Olymic ideal and Nazism are pretty similar. The torch relay, for instance, was an invention of Hitler. The Nazis were very big on torches. For more see here. So what is claimed below is reasonable enough

Nadja Drygalla, a German rower who already competed at the Olympics, is on her way home from London a bit earlier than she intended. Drygalla decided to leave the Games after reports surfaced that she is connected to a neo-Nazi group in Germany.
Drygalla's boyfriend is reportedly a leader of the Rostock National Socialists, a group German intelligence describes as neo-Nazi and racist.

"Miss Drygalla confirmed credibly her commitment to the Olympic Charter," the head of Germany's committee Michael Vesper said. "She is leaving the Olympic Village so as not to be a burden for the team."

Drygalla is a member of Germany's women's eight. Her team was eliminated in the repechage round....

The difference between Drygalla and the other two is the German organizing committee said she is still in line with the Olympic ideal. She made the choice to leave because of the distraction it could bring to the German Olympians.

This just illustrates that nobody is safe from the "sensitive" tyrants of the Left. You never know when you might goof

NBC has become the centre of a race storm after airing an ad featuring a monkey performing gymnastics, right after showing the performance of Gabby Douglas, the first African-American to win Olympic gold.

The network has since apologised for the advert's poor timing, explaining: 'No offense was intended.'

The controversy ignited as sportscaster Bob Costas wrapped his analysis of her incredible routine during the all-around competition last night.

Costas said: 'There are some African American girls out there who tonight are saying to themselves: "Hey, I’d like to try that too." More from London in a moment.'

The broadcast then went to a commercial break, showing an advertisement featuring a monkey wearing a gymnastics uniform and performing a rings gymnastics event.

The unintentional, but poorly-timed ad was for Animal Practice, an upcoming NBC sitcom.

'Disgusted at NBC for showing Animal Practice with monkey right after Gabby wins her gold,' one user posted.

Friday, August 03, 2012

Patriotic grill incorrect?

After rocketing to victory in the 400m individual medley on Saturday, leaving Michael Phelps and his other competitors in his wake and taking the USs first gold medal, Lochte slipped a diamond-encrusted mouth guard over his teeth for the presentation ceremony.

But the guard in red, blue and white stripes did not go down well with London officials who told him he'd have to remove it or he wouldn't be able to collect his gold medal.

While Lochte obeyed the demands of London officials and removed the mouth guard, he had the last laugh.

He kept it in his pocket until after the national anthem and popped it back in, posing for the cameras with his newly minted mouth-guard.

The ban would have been part of the ban on logos of non-sponsors at the games. But the USA is not a company. Are they going to ban Old Glory too?

By the way, it seems that grills originated among blacks. They saw the braces that middle class children often wear on their teeth as part of orthodontic (teeth straightening) treatment and saw that as prestigious.

Don’t Americans constantly complain because politicians lie? Barack Obama lies so much, his nose should be longer than Pinnochio. He says “the private sector is doing fine.” He says to business owners, “You didn’t build that.” He tells the middle class that “none of the tax increases are aimed at you.” And he tells rich people who pay almost all of the taxes, “You’re not paying your fair share.” It’s all lies and distortions.

Yet Mitt Romney tells the truth and he gets panned by the national media? All he said a few days ago is that Israel is a remarkable country…the Israeli people are remarkable people…and then compared the GDP of the average Israeli (about $32,000) to the average Palestinian (about $2000). Now this may be politically incorrect, but it’s certainly the truth. Forget the Palestinians. Israel is remarkable compared to any country, and the Jewish people are remarkable compared to any other tribe

Thursday, August 02, 2012

MANCHESTER United star Rio Ferdinand has been charged by the Football Association over his "choc-ice" Tweet.

Following the recent John Terry racism trial, in which Chelsea and England defender Terry was acquitted of racially abusing Ferdinand's younger brother Anton, Rio responded to a Tweet that described Chelsea defender and defence witness Ashley Cole as a "choc-ice".

The term is commonly understood to mean "black on the outside, white on the inside".

It was a reference to Cole's testimony in court, in which he said he never heard Terry make a racist remark to Anton Ferdinand during the match in question, between Queens Park Rangers and Chelsea, at Loftus Road last October.

"The FA has today charged Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand with improper conduct in relation to comments posted on Twitter," said an FA statement.

"The allegation is that the player acted in a way which was improper and/or brought the game into disrepute by making comments which included a reference to ethnic origin and/or colour and/or race."

Terry was found not guilty earlier this month after a five-day trial at Westminster Magistrates Court but the FA has since charged Terry in relation to the same case.

A British journalist's Twitter account has been suspended after he made a series of critical remarks about NBC's coverage of the London Olympics, sparking a wave of indignation online and claims of censorship.

The microblogging service suspended Guy Adams, the Los Angeles correspondent for London-based daily The Independent, after he sent a tweet on Friday revealing NBC Olympics President Gary Zenkel's email address.

Adams was among a number of Twitter users in the US who vented their frustration with NBC for showing the London Olympics' opening ceremony on delay to coincide with evening prime-time in the United States.

"America's left coast forced to watch Olympic ceremony on SIX HOUR time delay. Disgusting money-grabbing by @NBColympics," Adams tweeted.

Another read: "I have 1000 channels on my TV. Not one will be showing the Olympics opening ceremony live. Because NBC are utter, utter bastards."

"The man responsible for NBC pretending the Olympics haven't started yet is Gary Zenkel. Tell him what u think!," Adams tweeted, along with Zenkel's work email address.

Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Culture = race???

Republicans have sprung to the defence of Mitt Romney after the presidential candidate was accused of 'racism' over remarks made in Jerusalem this morning.

The former Massachusetts governor told a breakfast fundraiser in Jerusalem that the success of Israel was down to the country's 'culture' - by contrast to their Arab neighbours - and the 'hand of providence.'

His comments this morning were immediately labelled racist by Palestinians who argued that their economy was affected by the inability to freely move goods and services over decades of conflict with Israel.

Even some Jews criticised Romney - saying the remarks played into an anti-Semitic stereotype.

Romney arrived in Poland on Monday on the third and final leg of a tour aimed at burnishing his foreign policy credentials and demonstrating that he would be a viable alternative to President Barack Obama on the world stage.

Is the American national anthem politically incorrect? From the 4th verse:Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."

Mohammad

The truth can be offensive to some but it must be said

"HATE SPEECH" is free speech: The U.S. Supreme Court stated the general rule regarding protected speech in Texas v. Johnson (109 S.Ct. at 2544), when it held: "The government may not prohibit the verbal or nonverbal expression of an idea merely because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable." Federal courts have consistently followed this. Said Virginia federal district judge Claude Hilton: "The First Amendment does not recognize exceptions for bigotry, racism, and religious intolerance or ideas or matters some may deem trivial, vulgar or profane."

Even some advocacy of violence is protected by the 1st Amendment. In Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969), the U.S. Supreme Court held unanimously that speech advocating violent illegal actions to bring about social change is protected by the First Amendment "except where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action."

The double standard: Atheists can put up signs and billboards saying that Christianity is wrong and that is hunky dory. But if a Christian says that homosexuality is wrong, that is attacked as "hate speech"

One for the militant atheists to consider: "...it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg" -- Thomas Jefferson

"I think no subject should be off-limits, and I regard the laws in many Continental countries criminalizing Holocaust denial as philosophically repugnant and practically useless – in that they confirm to Jew-haters that the Jews control everything (otherwise why aren’t we allowed to talk about it?)" -- Mark Steyn

Voltaire's most famous saying was actually a summary of Voltaire's thinking by one of his biographers rather than something Voltaire said himself. Nonetheless it is a wholly admirable sentiment: "I disagree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say it". I am of a similar mind.

The traditional advice about derogatory speech: "Sticks and stones will break your bones but names will never hurt you". Apparently people today are not as emotionally robust as their ancestors were.

Why conservatives should not respond to Leftist abuse: "Never wrestle with a pig, because you'll both just get dirty, and the pig likes it.”

The KKK were members of the DEMOCRATIC party. Google "Klanbake" if you doubt it

A phobia is an irrational fear, so the terms "Islamophobic" and "homophobic" embody a claim that the people so described are mentally ill. There is no evidence for either claim. Both terms are simply abuse masquerading as diagnoses and suggest that the person using them is engaged in propaganda rather than in any form of rational or objective discourse.

Leftists often pretend that any mention of race is "racist" -- unless they mention it, of course. But leaving such irrational propaganda aside, which statements really are racist? Can statements of fact about race be "racist"? Such statements are simply either true or false. The most sweeping possible definition of racism is that a racist statement is a statement that includes a negative value judgment of some race. Absent that, a statement is not racist, for all that Leftists might howl that it is. Facts cannot be racist so nor is the simple statement of them racist. Here is a statement that cannot therefore be racist by itself, though it could be false: "Blacks are on average much less intelligent than whites". If it is false and someone utters it, he could simply be mistaken or misinformed.

Categorization is a basic human survival skill so racism as the Left define it (i.e. any awareness of race) is in fact neither right nor wrong. It is simply human

Whatever your definition of racism, however, a statement that simply mentions race is not thereby racist -- though one would think otherwise from American Presidential election campaigns. Is a statement that mentions dogs, "doggist" or a statement that mentions cats, "cattist"?

If any mention of racial differences is racist then all Leftists are racist too -- as "affirmative action" is an explicit reference to racial differences

Was Abraham Lincoln a racist? "You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated." -- Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862

Gimlet-eyed Leftist haters sometimes pounce on the word "white" as racist. Will the time come when we have to refer to the White House as the "Full spectrum of light" House?

The spirit of liberty is "the spirit which is not too sure that it is right." and "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it." -- Judge Learned Hand

Mostly, a gaffe is just truth slipping out

Two lines below of a famous hymn that would be incomprehensible to Leftists today ("honor"? "right"? "freedom?" Freedom to agree with them is the only freedom they believe in)

First to fight for right and freedom,
And to keep our honor clean

It is of course the hymn of the USMC -- still today the relentless warriors that they always were.

It seems a pity that the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosopher Epictetus is now little known. Remember, wrote the Stoic thinker, "that foul words or blows in themselves are no outrage, but your judgment that they are so. So when any one makes you angry, know that it is your own thought that has angered you. Wherefore make it your endeavour not to let your impressions carry you away."

"Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and falsity than by reading all manner of tractates, and hearing all manner of reason?" -- English poet John Milton (1608-1674) in Areopagitica

Leftists can try to get you fired from your job over something that you said and that's not an attack on free speech. But if you just criticize something that they say, then that IS an attack on free speech

The intellectual Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180) could have been speaking of much that goes on today when he said: "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."

I despair of the ADL. Jews have enough problems already and yet in the ADL one has a prominent Jewish organization that does its best to make itself offensive to Christians. Their Leftism is more important to them than the welfare of Jewry -- which is the exact opposite of what they ostensibly stand for! Jewish cleverness seems to vanish when politics are involved. Fortunately, Christians are true to their saviour and have loving hearts. Jewish dissatisfaction with the myopia of the ADL is outlined here. Note that Foxy was too grand to reply to it.

There are also two blogspot blogs which record what I think are my main recent articles here and here. Similar content can be more conveniently accessed via my subject-indexed list of short articles here or here (I rarely write long articles these days)

NOTE: The archives provided by blogspot below are rather inconvenient. They break each month up into small bits. If you want to scan whole months at a time, the backup archives will suit better. See here or here